CTG Watch

The Center Theatre Group has announced its new season for all three theaters.

On the up side, not ALL of the shows are by straight white men this year. But it's also not exactly the land of inclusive and risk-taking theater, either. All but one of the Ahmanson Theatre shows, which were announced a while ago, are major Broadway hits of the past year or two with major stars in them. I'm actually kind of interested in seeing these shows, even though I'm annoyed by their lack of innovation, so I can't be too critical.

The Mark Taper Forum, however, is the season with which I am most disappointed. It's the space in which I'd like to see exciting new productions and the space in which Gordon Davidson's legacy of socially aware, revolutionary productions is strongest. Doubt at the Ahmanson as part of the Taper Season is just a cop out. 13, a musical "performed by all-teen actors plus a hot teen band" sounds like a bunch of old men trying to seem young and hip. Distracted, which is at least a world premiere and by a woman, so I should like it, sounds kind of boring and unsatisfying. I am curious about YellowFace, since I do rather like David Henry Hwang and I'm glad to see him getting productions.

While I'm not thrilled about the Kirk Douglas season, it could be good. Dogeaters could be exciting, even though it's just a transfer of a production from Playwrights Arena, a local theater company who can't even seem to manage to geth their website to work. The Kirk Douglas season at least has some significant diversity (although a major lack of queer representation). I'm rather concerned about A Waitress in Yellowstone; I'm not a huge David Mamet fan at all, and I really suspect his abilities as a musical writer.

Overall, this season is much more diverse than last season, which reeked patriarchy with a hint of tokenism. I'm glad to see a bit of improvement, but I'm still not excited about their shows, and they don't seem to be including any queer subject matter at all.